Pakistan’s national security adviser has called on the world to “engage” with the Taliban’s caretaker government in Afghanistan or risk a return to the instability that characterised the group’s last era in power three decades ago.
In an address to foreign media in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday Moeed Yusuf urged the international community not to repeat past mistakes.
“We are trying to make sure that the world understands the importance of not making the mistakes of the past again,” he said.
“For us, it is an imperative to seek peace and stability in Afghanistan, that is what we are focused on.”
Yusuf’s comments come as world powers debate whether and under what conditions to recognise the new government in Kabul dominated by the Taliban, which swept across Afghanistan in a lightning offensive last month. The group seized control of the capital, Kabul, on August 15 as former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Pakistan, Afghanistan’s southeastern neighbour, has repeatedly called for world powers to engage with the new government and to provide immediate humanitarian and other aid to stave off an imminent economic collapse.
On Monday, several countries pledged more than $1.1bn in food aid at a United Nations conference to address immediate poverty and hunger concerns in Afghanistan. Roughly $10bn in Afghan central bank reserves, however, remain frozen at banks abroad, notably with the US Federal Reserve.
